Capitalism and downloading.

Annihilaytorr

I hear constantly how downloading is bad for metal, bad for the bands, makes one untrue, and all kinds of other rhetoric usually designed to boost ones ego based on the number of releases owned.

"I buy everything I listen to. I hate downloader posers"

This is typical of the consumer mentality of metal these days. In this age where capitalism causes thousands of distributors to release thousands of shitty albums, I call for a boycot of distributors. There are (maybe) 15 bands active these days I would give money to. This does not justify the thousands of distros out there today making money off riffs Slayer was through with 20 years ago.

chthonian

Mainly people bitch about downloading because they cannot get anything on the internet and are not smart enough to use DC++ and SLSK.Bands barely get any money from their albums. So all those who think they support bands, actually suport labels and distributors. And besides no one to support, metal is dead.Finally it is all about money. Quite a few metalheads can afford every single record they want. The other thing is, most people who buy their stuff listen to material that is at most 10 years old. Such stuff is on sale practically in every store and thus is rather easy to get. People who listen to 80's Metal (like I for example) can barely find anything interesting there. Sure there are ways to get oldies, like for example e-bay, but prices there are usually high.

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Wolfbane

I view downloading as "renting" an album before you buy. I prefer to buy metal cds and say I have this album then just to say I downloaded it. Also cds are something more long-term of having music. I'm not counting on having burnt cds or music on my computer for 20 years. I think you huys make valid points about buying cds just being consumerist but I still prefer to have cds.

I hear constantly how downloading is bad for metal, bad for the bands, makes one untrue, and all kinds of other rhetoric usually designed to boost ones ego based on the number of releases owned.

I think it's evolution. Hear everything before you buy, and buy only the best; this rapidly forces music to be either better or more popular. Right now it's the latter because of a predominance of shitheads.

When you think about it, before internet culture, people were a lot more careful with their money. They trusted writers and magazines more. It was a greater weight (heavy!!!) at the time of making the decision.

That was probably better, but for now, downloading should be encouraged so that there is a chance for better art to prevail. We also need more violent writers.

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Annihilaytorr

I am only 21 years of age, and heard my first metal band over the internet, therefore I have no fucking clue what metal was like before garbage like myspace and p2p like soulseek. Its a shame I was four years old when metal was something to be feared. But, as a whole, I am glad the internet exists, because it makes researching art like metal easier and cheaper.

:(Downloading for me personnally is unsuitable as i often find that people do it in bulk, downloading anything and everything they find. i prefer to take it slow and buy the odd CD here and there and spend time getting to know the music. i don't hate it for ethical money reasons anyway. i mean to say, what is money really.........really.

I don't think bands really get that much money through cd sales, so the idea of supporting the band doesn't seem to work, and I am not too interested in supporting record labels. Generally I will download everything I listen to and if it's truely great I will buy it, but that is becoming rarer and rarer.

Edit: If a band really needs money as motivation for recording music isn't that incentive enough to not buy their music?

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Downloading for me personnally is unsuitable as i often find that people do it in bulk, downloading anything and everything they find. i prefer to take it slow and buy the odd CD here and there and spend time getting to know the music.

What the hell are you talking about? Download one cd at a time then, what does your observation of everyone else have to do with it?

:-/It's not just that, i enjoy cultivating my CD collection and watching it grow. It's not about my observation of everyone else, it's just most of the people I come into contact with from day to day (not on this forum) mindlessly downlaod bullshit and then delete it the next day. IN MY OPINION, it just seems to take the emotion out of enjoying music, like it's turned from entertainment to fashion.

IN MY OPINION, it just seems to take the emotion out of enjoying music, like it's turned from entertainment to fashion.

You've got a point. Be selective about what you download; the rules haven't changed much since 1989. Find someone writing or assessing quality stuff and check out what they recommend.

This is why sometimes it's better to have 2 metal magazines than 20, and five good zines instead of the 500,000 shit zines today (and yes, I don't think much of the trendy zines from Scandinavia - beautiful but empty because they praise metal too much, and good metal, not enough).

You've got a point. Be selective about what you download; the rules haven't changed much since 1989. Find someone writing or assessing quality stuff and check out what they recommend.

This is why sometimes it's better to have 2 metal magazines than 20, and five good zines instead of the 500,000 shit zines today (and yes, I don't think much of the trendy zines from Scandinavia - beautiful but empty because they praise metal too much, and good metal, not enough).

Why not just download and see for yourself? This may be because of my incredibly bad experiences with zines recommending utter shit, perhaps you would care to share a couple of good ones?

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Annihilaytorr

The reviews on Metal-archives get better all the time. Be selective with the reviewer. You can usually tell when you read the review if they have the facilities to judge metal correctly. Other then that, anus is the only place I read album reviews. I don't read mags and all the internet zines I have ever seen praise 99% of anything.